Wednesday, 23 November 2016

And we're back with some high adventure from a galaxy far, far away! With only four(?) missions left of the core campaign the heroes are getting more powerful at the same time as the Empire is deploying more of its elite troops. If you need to catch up please check out part one and part two of the campaign.

I only needed to paint one additional model for this session - Carnor Jax, I mean the Royal Guard Champion. Yes, that really is Carnor Jax as can be seen on the cards from the Imperial Assault beta playtesting phase. For some reason they felt they had to change it, probably because of what Disney let FFG do (and don't do) with established characters. However it's just as obvious as General Sorin really being General Veers. Anyway, on to the reporting!

As always, there will be SPOILERS for the core campaign below so keep that in mind.

After one win and two losses in our last session the rebels were hungry for getting one back on the ole' Empire. Unfortunately for them things didn't go according to plan and they found themselves being sucked into an imperial stardestroyer! There was a small chance of escape though, if they could destroy four critical terminals controlling the tractor beams and then get back to their ship. It looked a little hairy from the get go though...

I have a bad feeling about this!

While the stormtroopers didn't pose that much of a threat the E-web blaster cannon and the elite officer directing its fire proved a deadly combination! Diala moved toward the closest door and tried to open it to access the terminal beyond but rolled badly and lost a complete turn just getting it open, even with Gideons help! Jyn blasted stormtroopers left and right while ducking and weaving her way toward the other door. Fenn charged toward the E-web but quickly got pinned down and soon had to retreat back from the heavy fire. Finally, Gideon was so busy ordering people around that he forgot to move out of the line of fire and soon found himself wounded. And to make matters worse the door Diala had (finally!) managed to open shut close again!

I got to say that during the first two or three turns my dice were hot as hell while the rebels couldn't even open their doors. If it hadn't been murder it would have been funny how I just kept rolling four damage with my stormies and double that with the E-web while the rebel return fire proved mostly ineffective. Fenns assault on the heavy gun was beaten back and he and Jyn instead went the other way around, through the control room.

Charging an E-web with support is brutal!

Diala did finally manage to get in and destroy her terminal and Jyn and Fenn destroyed their closest one, while in a fierce battle with my elite stormtrooper squad just around the corner, close to the E-web. At that time the Carnor Jax spawned from a Doom-esque door behind them and proceeded to cut down poor Gideon. As more troops kept pouring in we had a little discussion about their chances and while they had managed to destroy two terminals and had one more nearby, the rebels simply didn't see how they could possibly take out the fourth and get back to the elevator back to their ship without all of them getting wounded. At this time Diala was the only unwounded hero but Carnor Jax was closing in so instead of drawing it out they held up their hands and let themselves be take captive.

Another Imperial victory! After this we should have played the forced Escape mission but after some discussion we decided to simply skip it in favour of getting on with the campaign. It's not that we didn't want to play the mission as such, but it would have meant the need for an extra session to finish the campaign, and it's not like the Escape mission has any juicy rewards you miss out on.

Instead we went to the next side mission and since Fenn's character mission, Brushfire, was available the heroes decided on that rather than trying to recruit Han Solo. It's a pretty fun mission where the heroes have to run around and disarm six bombs while avoiding fire from a huge AT-ST. It was of course extra fun since we got to use the painted model for the AT-ST which hadn't seen play yet!

*Gonk-stom, gonk-stomp, gonk-stomp!*

They again brought their meat shields, getting me enough Threat to deploy my veteran elite stormtroopers who are... pretty scary at this point! I gave the Assault Armor to the AT-ST for some extra durability as I knew both Diala and Fenn could put out some nasty damage. The heroes raced forward and quickly took out the probe droid and the closest bomb. Fenn then rushed ahead toward the red bomb behind the AT-ST! A bold move indeed. While he did manage to disarm that bomb he had to retreat before using it on the AT-ST as the fire from the elite stormtroopers and the walker itself was overwhelming.

A squad of heavy stormtroopers caught the clumped up rebel forces in a crossfire and put some light damage on almost all of them. Diala ran after Fenn, trying to cover him as well as getting the other red bomb, while Jyn ran pas the walker and down toward the blue bomb. Gideon and the troopers stayed behind and Gideon got the other yellow bomb in the corner.

It was at this point that Claes, who plays Jynn, realized she had made the noblest sacrifice!

Jynn's dash didn't go unnoticed though and soon the AT-ST had shifted its attention to her. Backed up by another probe droid the wounded smuggler was running head over heels, with trees blowing up around her! A wounded Fenn barely managed to take out the E-web and then slowly tried to make his way through the muddy water to the blue bomb in the corner. Diala bravely used her Way of the Sarlacc to figh of the elite stormtroopers but was soon wounded simply because of the superior numbers!

I really liked this little vignette! Two grunts firing away at each other while their superiors take all the glory.

The heavy stormtroopers took out the last of the rebel troopers and the walker again shifted its focus back to Gideon - the only still healthy hero in the group! Fenn just managed to disarm the next to final bomb and the Diala avoided enough damage to move close to the final bomb and... disarm it! Which was in the nick of time as the AT-ST would have moved and fired twice on Gideon in the next activavion - probably giving the win to the Empire. As it was the rebels stood victorious instead, having driven the Imperial presence off Onderon! A great close-fought game - much more even and fun than Drawn In had been.

We finished with the regular post-mission book keeping of buying weapons and skills. All the heroes now have one of their top 4xp skills and Diala and Fenn are using Tier III weaponry (Fore Pike and Pulse Cannon respectively) while Jynn is still holding on to her DL-44.

The next two missions are The Source followed by the Finale! However, with birthdays and christmas coming up it will probably have to wait until the beginning of January. Until then, may the Force be with you!

Tuesday, 8 November 2016

Last month Heavy Gear enthusiast and general nice guy Brandon Keith Fero organized a Heavy Gear painting competition over at the Terra Nova DMZ FB group (head on over if you are even remotely interested in Heavy Gear - it's a great group of people!). At first I felt too busy with Imperial Assault and Infinity to join up, but the more I thought about it the more I wanted to do it! For me the main reason was the motivation to actually get a mecha painted (I've found proper, hard dead lines are what works best for me) and also come up with a new way of painting as my old system, from six years ago, was a bit slow.

The choice of model was easy - the Grizzly is one of my favourite gears and as I had a couple of metal ones lying around I prepped one and got to work. I wanted a fairly relaxed look that nevertheless emphasized the size and weight of both the mech itself and the heavy autocannon it carries. Normally you have to put the cannon much higher, across the chest/cockpit, to get the two handed hold, but that didn't give me the "relaxed" look I wanted so I modified the waist a bit. Well, modified is a strong word - I pinned the torso to the waist in a way that propped it up and allowed me to fit the gun (just barely!) under the chest. The only problem is you can see the gap from some angles.

I like this picture the best as it reminds me of Ghislain Barbe's art. You can see the gap thouh! Doh!

Painting wise I wanted something fairly quick - a wash probably. After some consideration i went with VGC Khaki followed by a quick, lighter drybrush just to get the first highlights on there and then a strong tone wash. After that it was simply a matter of using Khaki/Bonewhite/Off-White to build up the hightlights. The weathering was done by dabbing German Grey around exposed areas followed by pure Off-White highlights here and there.

The black/grey areas are VMC Basalt Grey with a Nuln Oil wash followed by hightlights with Basalt Grey and Sky Grey. At first the guns also used this colour but that became too bland so I decided to do the guns with VGC Bastalt Grey/Steel Grey/Sky Grey instead for a metallic effect. Of course the guns would be perfectly maintained while the gear itself was somewhat neglected. Hehe! The missile hatches are simply Off-White and Khorne Red with some tiny highlights. For the dust effects I used Vallejo pigments Burnt Umber and Dark Yellow Ochre. And that was it! Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Here's a good view of the Pack Gun and Grenade Launcher.

In the end I spent a little more time on it than I wanted, but I could easily cut back a bit on the weathering and the process would be much quicker. Then again, the weathering is what makes it pop I think. And it fits very well with the gritty Heavy Gear universe!

The scheme itself is fairly close to my old one although I would say it has been refined or rebooted. The old and new models could probably share a table without it looking weird.

Sorry for the slightly out of focus pictures. I'm still learning how to use my wife's new camera. :)

I really enjoyed putting this guy together and now that the Heavy Gear kickstarter box has arrived as well I have quite a bit of work ahead of me. I don't think I'll get right back into it just yet though as there are a number of games with higher priority waiting for attention. But now I have a colour scheme that looks good and paints quickly when it's time. Then again... I suppose I should really paint some opposition to my North forces so I can actually play the game!

Oh, and I was lucky enough to win that painting competition so now I have to decide on the grand prize - a tank or a gear strider. Hmm...

Monday, 10 October 2016

Time to chronicle the next part of the campaign! With time being quite limited for a few of us we have only managed to play another three missions, but we're still having fun and this means that there is (probably) only three more missions to go before the grande finale! If you need to catch up, part 1 of our campaign chronicles can be read here.

As I've finished everything from the core box (except the leftover heroes) my painting has slowed somewhat and now I'm painting what is needed for the upcoming mission instead. In other news I have started assembling my new Yu Jing miniatures from the Red Veil starter, so my focus might shift. However, I did paint the Heavy Stormtroopers from Twin Suns and two Hired Guns simply because I love the miniatures and they seem are fun. No nice close ups of them at the moment though, so you'll have to spot the in action.

Again, there might be slight SPOILERS below so if you are sensitive to that, stop reading.

After having lost the last mission, trying to retrieve Diala's lightsaber, the Rebels were eager to throw themselves back into the fray and go look for Han Solo who had gone silent after leaving for a mission on Tattooine. The mission was Fly Solo, where the heroes don't have much information up front and are simply told to go open a door, preferably as soon as possible.

The Rebel Troopers really didn't do much this time around. Jyn with her sneaky snap shot on the other hand!

They decided to bring their Rebel Trooper allies with them again, which allowed me to beef up my defences. And although they definitely made headway toward the door, I think the resistance was more than they had anticipated. They didn't manage to reach the door by the end of turn three which meant that Han Solo had to make a daring escape by himself, blasting at his pursuers even with his hands tied!

Han rescues himself!

Now the objective became to protect Solo and get him to the entry point to win the mission. Problem was of course that I had spawn points at the two corners close to the entry point and there was soon a large number of Imperial troops (and their hired guns!) bearing down on the heroes and Han. Also, to add insult to injury, IG-88 made his first appearance and started relentlessly stomp toward the Rebel hero!

"Great rescue, guys!"

The Rebel Troopers were long gone at this point and the Heavy Stormtroopers now had the distance to make the best use of their guns. After much consideration and many a deep sigh the heroes decided to risk it by sending Solo out alone, and I agree that it looked like their only chance (as he was surrounded by Stormtroopers at this point). He did manage to dodge a couple of shots, but in the end the attackers simply swamped the smuggler and he went down from a nasty shot by a Heavy Stormtrooper.

In the end accurate heavy blaster fire brough Han down.

Victory to the Empire!

Next up was another side mission and I had put Means of Production into play, as it would give me a juicy attachment if they didn't do that mission next, or if the did it and lost. After looking at the alternatives the heroes decided to try and prevent me from bolstering my forces and went after the secret R&D facility to try and shut it down.

Having learned a valuable lesson last time, the heroes were quick out of the starting blocks in this mission!

Reading through this mission I was fairly confident that it would be an easy win for me, as I had the ability to strengthen a number of critical doors that the Rebels had to get through. But in the first round they already rushed ahead and blew through the first door! While this gave my newly placed E-Web some free shots at the heroes (inflicting nasty damage!) it also meant that the Rebels had seized the momentum of the game.

Diala and Jyn racing ahead.

While Jyn and Diala ran ahead to take care of the computer console they needed to access, Gideon and Fenn stayed near the entrance to hold off the reinforcements. This was another mission that really came down to the wire as there were several moments that were critical to the eventual outcome. All heroes but Fenn were wounded a the end and I just failed my chance to wound him as well. Back near the access terminal I actually did make three rather huge errors - 1) I failed to spawn my elite stormtroopers earlier (and instead spawned a probe droid. Bah! What was I thinking), 2) I moved one of the Stormtroopers clumsily which prevented me taking a shot with another trooper which would likely have won me the game, 3) I applied the wrong defence to the door in the penultimate round (the stun defence mechanism would have also won me the game).

Elite Stormtroopers and automatic defences put Jyn out of action, but Diala just managed to complete the objective.

So in the final turn Jyn blasted open the door but was wounded a second time as she did it, leaving Diala with just one or two health left to go in and access the terminal, winning the game! It was a fun little scenario and it was about time the Rebels got a win in.

The next side mission was a choice of either trying to receive Han as an (expensive) ally or help Luke Skywalker with some recruite for a very situational ability card. In the end the heroes decided to go for the card and so we played Sympathy for the Rebellion.

It's nice to be able to use the big damn heroes now and again. Go get 'em, Luke!

This is a pretty interesting scenario where the heroes, and Luke, have to try and save as many recruits as possible as their meeting has become compromised and Imperial troops are storming the compound. The Imperial player has the opposite mission of trying to grab as many of the recruits with his Stormtroopers for interrogation. I was mostly excited to play this mission since Big D would show up in turn four to look scary!

Tricky position for the Heroes. Will Luke's inspiring presence be enough?!

It felt very thematic to have a couple of Trandoshan Hunters joining the Imperials and they started close to Luke and the heroes and during the first couple of turns proved a real thorn in the Rebel's side. In the second turn they gunned down Luke, point blank range, and once the heroes finally dispatched them I had enough threat, from grabbing recruits, to respawn them again immediately!

This picture was taken mere seconds before the demise of Luke Skywalker at the hands of some dirty, dirty Trandoshans!

In fact it was quickly apparent that the heroes were in a real pickle as they had only managed to get out three recruits, with one more being carried by Gideon. They needed to save one more to win, but each time I wounded a hero I got to remove one of the recruit tokens still available on the board. I had made a beeline for the recruits with my Stormtroopers as well, almost ignoring the heroes, which meant there was only a single recruit left on the board. I had my Heavy Stormtroopers attack Gideon, but even after three attacks (using some Agenda Card magic) he was left standing with one health away from being wounded! However, I had earlier spawned an elite Probe Droid, just for kicks since I had so much Threat at the time, and for the first time since the campaign started I had an opportunity to use its self-destruct ability! It simply sidled up next to Gideon, Fenn and Jyn and went boom, wounding Gideon and allowing me to take away that last recruit and making the mission unwinnable for the Rebels.

This brave probe droid, VP-44, gave its life so that the loyal soldiers of the Empire would prevail this day! We will remember.

Another Imperial victory, and at the end of round two! Both me and the hero players were a little taken aback at how quickly it had escalated. And I hadn't gotten to use Vader! Well, hopefully in a future mission.

So there we are, another three missions down with one Rebel and two Imperial wins. To continue our 50/50 statistics the Rebels should win the next story mission - Drawn In - which we might get to play by the end of the month.

End SPOILERS.

I don't really know what you're doing down here as there really isn't much non-spoilery to talk about down here. Hmm... well, thanks for scrolling down anyway. Oh, I know, I'll put a picture of the Hired Guns here!

Hired Guns, baby! Lots of fun to paint and play with. I used the cover of Beyond the Rim for inspiration as the clothes and pose are almost identical to that Rodian.

Wednesday, 14 September 2016

What has long been suspected by the community has now been confirmed by Fantasy Flight Games; they no longer has the license to produce games based on Games Workshop properties and will stop selling any of their current GW based games on February 28th 2017. So... panic and pandemonium among the (rather large) crowd who really like what FFG has managed to do with the different GW IPs. Still, we have about five months to stock up on what's missing and if we're lucky FFG will run some juicy sales before pulping their remaining stock next year.

There has been a lot of speculation as to why the split happened. Since FFG didn't show any sign of stopping the production of new GW-based games until earlier this year when they released the print on demand character expansions for Warhammer Quest. This seemed like a really odd move to me, as the game was a great success both commercially and critically. After that there were no new anouncements except for the current cycle of Warhammer 40k Conquest that was already set in motion. Then came Gencon and I thought "if there is no GW-based game announced at Gencon the relationship is over" and there wasn't and it is. So what happened?

It will probably be years (if ever) until what actually happens leak out, but my guess is that this was a decision made by GW, not FFG. Maybe because GW have been moving into board gaming themselves the last couple of years, and want to create their own market. Or maybe they took affront to the new Runewars miniatures game that is in direct competition with their own Age of Sigmar (neo-Warhammer). I actually read an interesting rumour that FFG had approached GW about making accessory pieces (markers? Terrain?) for both Age of Sigmar and 40k but got told to pretty much fuck right off, upon which FFG decided to make their own fantasy wargame. Just a rumour though. Or it could have been the other way around of FFG making Runewars and GW taking offence and yanking the license. Either way... no more great Warhammer games from FFT.

Now, there are a few months left so which games are worth getting and how should you prioritize and try and squeeze them into that already too small gaming budget? Fear not... I've made a lists...

Board games

1. Chaos in the Old World
Yep, I put this at number one rather than Forbidden Stars. It's not that CitOW is actually the better game (I'd say they're both equally brilliant!) however, it is quite a bit cheaper, has a more unique theme (you get to play as the actual Chaos Gods!!) and it can be played in 90 minutes easily. Those are going to be some mighty tense 90 minutes as the knife fight in a phone booth-type gameplay really amps up the action from round one. Highly, highly recommended!
What about the expansion? Get it if you can, but it's not essential unless you often find yourself with a group of five players. It does add some cool stuff and it's nice to have a completely alternate way of playing all the gods.

2. Forbidden StarsHad it been cheaper and more accessible (read, shorter) this might have made the top of the list but it is nonetheless a superb game of space warfare with beautiful sculpts of all my old 40k favourites. I don't think I need to talk much about its merits as Forbidden Stars has received praise from all corners of the community. Get this is you prefer 40k over Fantasy and especially if you have a hard time getting together a group of four players. While you can play less than four in Chaos in the Old World the game really suffers from it, whereas Forbidden Stars work great with two and even three players! Of all the games we're loosing because of this deal, not seeing an expansion (with Tyranids!) for Forbidden Stars might be what I'll miss the most.

3. Fury of DraculaAnother sign that points to GW cutting ties - Fury of Dracula was released around the time of Gencon 2015 to much praise from the community who had longed for a reprint of this classic game. This has nothing to do with Warhammer but is simply a fantastic deduction game of many against one as you race through Europe trying to corner the most elusive and dangerous of prey - Count Dracula. The theme is marvellous and the components and board (as always) beautiful. I've also heard that in this latest edition FFG has fixed the combat system that sometimes felt a little clunky. The only, potentially, negative point is that Fury of Dracula can often run for two, three or sometimes even four hours which might be an issue for some people. I just find it a great way to spend an evening though. Hehe!

4. Blood Bowl: Team ManagerThis is a small card game that kind of snuck up on me. I was certainly interested in it but didn't expect it to be as fun as it is! It plays quickly at around 60-90 minutes and it works well with two, three or four players. While naturally abstracted quite a bit from the gritty matches of the original Blood Bowl it nevertheless manages to capture the feel of the game. It's usually quite a bit of back and forth during the tournaments as you use your different players, and often a clever way to use an ability can turn a certain defeat into a win! For this I'd recommend getting both of theexpansions as they add not only new teams but new rules as well, which might be needed to keep the game fresh for as long as possible.

5. Space Hulk: Death AngelI was going to put Warhammer Quest: The Adventure Card Game in spot 5 as I think it is probably a more fun game, it might even be better than Blood Bowl: Team Manager. But, and this is a big but, it was obviously made to have lots and lots of expansions providing more than the measly three included in the base game, and that is the crux of the matter - with no new quests how long will the base game actually last? I've heard people getting kind of bored with it after playing the same quest just two or three times. So even though I think Warhammer Quest is a better game as such, I'm going with Death Angel as it simply has a lot more replay value (and it's cheap!). The game is tense and really difficult (hey, it's Space Hulk!) with difficult tactical choices getting thrown at you every turn.

You'll see your nice big squad of marines systematically and unceremoniously being torn into little bloody pieces by the hordes of genestealers who simply love to camp out in abandonded old spaceships. It can at times run a little long for what is essentially a filler, but that might be down to me agonizing about my (Sophie's) choices each turn! It's an excellent solo game and very good for two players although I'm not sure how well it holds up with more players than that (besides becoming increasingly difficult!). As for expansions, get them if you can but they're certainly not needed to have many hours of fun(?) with this game.

Joker: Warhammer: DiskwarsYeah... I have no experience with Diskwars, at all, and kind of discounted it when I first read the announcement from FFG - "this looks silly, I bet it is silly". Except, it seems like a lot of people really like it and that it might actually capture a lot of the feel of Warhammer Fantasy Battles without any of the hassles of miniatures painting or headache-inducing rules. Just read this review by Geosphere over at BGG called A Metric Ton of Fun in a Box! It also sits at a comfortable rating o 7.4 which is more than both Death Angel and Team Manager. Since I have no personal experience with it I can't recommend it myself, but do some research and see if it's your kind of thing.

Runners-up (or, left-overs)
There are some more GW-based games that didn't make my top five, namely Talisman (and its endless expansions!), Relic and Chaos Marauders. I really don't like Talisman as I find it just an endless affair with no interesting decisions and even if Relic improved on this slightly, it's simply not my cup of tea. No recommendation from me. Chaos Marauders I haven't actually played but from reading quite a bit about it a few years ago it seems like an ok filler, but not anything unique enough to warrant emergency funds.

Living Card Games

I'll talk briefly about the LCGs as I'm not that well-versed in them. I've played Warhammer Invasion a few times and while I surely enjoyed it it didn't give me that wow-feeling like Netrunner, or even Star Wars the Card Game, did. I guess if you are really into Warhammer Fantasy and LCGs it might be a good fit, but then again if that was the case you probably already own it.Warhammer 40,000 Conquest is another matter though. Again it's a game I haven't played myself, but I have watched it played and enough people, whose judgement I trust, recommend it that I think it might be worth considering getting before the plug is pulled. Have a look at how it plays (plenty of videos on youtube) and read some reviews to see if it is for you.

Now, there's something to be said about a "dead" living card game. There won't be officially organized events, no new cards released and a much smaller community than, say, Netrunner. But in the same way these issues can be drawbacks for some, they can be boons for others! If you mostly want to play casually with your friends it might be liberating, in a way, to know that there aren't new packs to pick up each month and that the game is, in a way, "complete".

Roleplaying Games

FFG took up the reins after Black Industries were shut down and I think generally they did some good work, even though all of their rpg products are unessecarily wordy and can be a real slog to get through simply because the sheer number of pages and the very meticulous language with lots of repetition. Still, the background material is overall good and it's hard not to get inspired when flipping through the books. All of the core books are meaty beasts, so if you are strapped for cash but want to keep yourself covered, just getting these (and maybe the first sourcebook released for each line) would go a long way! Now, here is my personal list of recommendations:

1. Dark HeresyUnless you have a very specific interest in Rogue Traders, Space marines, Chaos or the Guard just get Dark Heresy. It gives you the most freedom on both how to run your campaign and how the players can create their characters. You can play trench warfare or courtroom intrigue or anything in between and you rarely feel stuck in a rut with Dark Heresy. The sourcebooks released for the game (1st edition) are overall good, although I think Ascension and Daemon Hunter ups the power level more than I'm comfortable with. Scenarios has also often been a problem area for FFG - as a rule of thumb the first adventure book released for one of their roleplaying games (usually just after the core book, and usually containing three linked scenarios) is quite good, but then the longer, three-part campaign is kind of bad. So go for Purge the Unclean, but hold off on the Haarlock Legacy if you don't want to put in the extra work to get it up to snuff.

I haven't read the new second edition, but from what I've heard it is more of a revised edition than a complete overhaul. I'm not sure I would bother with it if it would make it harder for me to use the material in the old books.

2. Rogue TraderThis is my personal 40k rpg favourite! I love the grand scope of things and the freedom you can give your players to explore and create their own adventures, in a sense. The tricky bit is that it can be hard to get this grand scale across. When you have a ship with a crew in the tens of thousands it just feels silly for the captain to have a shootout in a dingy bar. Don't have a shootout, have a war! This was also a problem that plagued the official scenarios released - while they at times get the scale right it just as often feels off. This is also why I'm not putting it at number one, Rogue Trader does require more work from the GM. Or perhaps not more work, but it requires a flexible GM that can run a kind of semi-sandbox campaign with only a general skeleton framework that the players themselves flesh out. Or that is at least my take on it. I guess you could play it in a way similar to Star Trek, where the captain and the most important officers keep beaming down everywhere personally to take care of stuff even though they have a huge crew! But that would defeat the purpose of the insane scale of Warhammer 40k!

I think the different sourcebooks for Rogue Trader are of high quality and worth getting if you like the setting. The adventures might seem a bit lacklustre if you run them straight from the book, but could make for a good framework for a more player driven campaign, so don't discount them.

3. DeathwatchFor me, Deathwatch was really when the kind of giant-on-clay-feet that is the 40krp system started to show both its age and its cracks. With so many different mechanics layered on top of eachother it made the game... cumbersome to run. And keep in mind, this is coming from a person who likes crunch in his games! If I were to run Deathwatch again I think I would use a different system that fits the heroic, almost superhero, style better. Perhaps FATE. However, I still think it is worth getting the books simply for the lore and the many ideas you can get from them for your own campaigns, if you want to run a space marine game that is.

4. Only WarI was kind of excited for Only War as the Imperial Guard has long been a favourite faction of mine, when it comes to 40k. And although the game is certainly not bad by any means it doesn't really stand out as anything all that special either. Yes, there are tons of info on the imperial guard and the military machine of the Imperium. But so much of it is simply WWI/WWII/Vietnam in space it's rarely anything that actually feels new. If Deathwatch is a superhero game then Only War should be the gritty, down in the mud game about the stories of individual soldiers and how they fought and died. Sure, you can use the 40krp engine for that, but I immediately want to run it with the awesome USCM (Aliens colonial marines) hack for Torchbearer instead! It is also crunchy, but in a completely different way - instead of trying to be a bad simulator it instead goes full on gut punch and gravel in your eye while still having a laser focus on the personal stories. Again though, the FFG books can be good for the lore.

WFRP3 is a bit of an odd duck, both brilliant and flawed, and certainly intriguing. You might remember that we played through The Gathering Storm campaign back when the third edition was released in 2010, and while we had a lot of fun with it, toward the end we (or at least I) felt quite a bit of token/card fatigue as it kept growing with each expansion introduced. The system is really quite good, but a little rough around the edges - which FFG now have polished with the Star Wars rpgs. The cards are brilliant in the sense that you have all the rules right in front of you, however the drawback is that the players often sit and stare at their cards to try and figure out their next, most optimal action, rather than just going with the flow and simply describing what they do and asking what to roll. So, at times, it felt more like playing World of Warcraft than a pen and paper rpg. Part of me really like it and want to play it again, but another part of me just want to cut out the core bits and get rid of the cruft (like with Star Wars!). Or... I'll just use the first or second edition, or even Torchbearer for my Warhammer games in the future. Again, if you want to go for it, consider skipping the adventures as they are so-so. Certainly not bad as such, and they can absolutely be salvaged, but I think getting the source boxes (the different chaos god boxes, Hero's Call and Signs of Faith) would bring you more in the long run. Besides, there are so many really good adventures for the first and second editions to use!

Black Crusade gets put as Joker simply because I haven't read any of it and I don't really know if it's good or not. It didn't really interest me when announced, but I could see playing as a band of chaos marauders if you go with the much weirder, old-school chaos from the Rogue Trader era instead of the current spiky skull demon style. Still, check out some reviews and see if it's something for you.

I think that about covers it! Now get going as there is sure to be a rush...

Monday, 29 August 2016

Helloooo! Long time, no see and all that! Well... let's get into it, shall we?

About a month ago I got the urge to try the Star Wars: Imperial Assault skirmish game. I've had the core box of SWIA for more than a year but had only got to play it with my nieces which was fun, but didn't really provide the full experience. I don't exactly remember why the inclination to try the skirmish popped into my head (had I watched Episode VII again perhaps?) but there it was so I took the big box and trotted over to Anders.

In this game we learned that Vader is just as much of a badass as you think he should be!

We played twice. First the scenario from the core box with the recommended forces and then with the scenario from the IG-88 expansion (cause IG-88 is awesome!). In the first scenario I played as the rebels, four heroes and Luke, against Vader and some of his cronies. In the next I took IG-88 and some bounty hunter scum versus Luke and a more balanced rebel list, including some troopers and saboteurs.

What IG-88 brought with him to deal with those pesky rebels.

I had been a bit sceptical about the skirmish game, wondering if the old Descent mechanics would really translate well to a full on competetive game like this, but I'm happy to report that we had a blast! Not only do the mechanics flow naturally after a turn or two, it actually feel really Star Warsy (well, as long as you field reasonably thematic forces I suppose). I would actually say that the Descent mechanics work better when you have mostly ranged combat like this - which is of course entirely natural as they were originally designed for the original Doom boardgame.

So, lots of fun! Both of us were all fired up to play more - both skirmish and campaign. I was excited enough to immediately go home and start painting and Anders was excited enough to run out and buy some Rebel Troopers and last week even investing in the Bespin expansion where he will be the Imperial player in the mini campaign. Awesome!

Jyn, Gideon, Diala and Fenn.

We rounded up another couple of players and started the campaign a few days later. For the first session (covering the intro scenario and one side mission) they played with one hero each but for the second onward we decided to add Gideon to the heroes to make it a full party of four as that extra activation can have some weird effects on game balance. Anders chose Fenn the soldier while Claes took Jyn the smuggler and Anna Diala the former jedi padawan.

If you are worried about Imperial Assault spoilers you might want to skip down a bit as I'll be talking a little about the first four missions we played. Not in detail, but still.

Even though I put up stiff resistance and swarmed the terminals with Stormtroopers they still managed to win Aftermath. It was a close fight though and I managed to wound two of them and they only destroyed the last terminal on the final turn. A good sign!

Yeah, that's right! I painted the real heroes before the rebel scum!

For the next mission they chose Brace for Impact as their side mission as that would allow them to field Trooper allies in future missions. Quite a fun scenario where a number of rebel troopers are being beseiged by Imperial forces and the heroes have to a) protect them and b) interact with a terminal. I had a jolly good time mowing down those troopers with my elite stormtroopers and it looked like the Empire would win. But in the last round Claes made a clever move with Jyn and Diala (who was far away from the exit) could use the double activation to move the 20 spaces needed. Again, a great, very Star Warsy experience that came down to the wire!

That was our first session and for the second I kept painting and we were able to play with all painted miniatures but for two exceptions: General Weiss and Vader.

Fenn ran off while the others kicked probe droid ass!

The next mission was A New Threat, the first proper Story mission, and a fairly big one at that. The heroes needed to split up and interact with three different terminals, all the while being hounded by Imperial forces and having nasty surprises sprung at them when doors opened. Fenn quickly took care of his terminal while Diala and Jyn (with Gideon) stayed around to kill some probe droids before moving on. In the end it came down to a dice roll by Jyn to see if she could slice the terminal she was at, but failed just barely giving the Empire its first victory. Oh, and general Weiss turned up at the last minute with his tricked out walker but he didn't really do anything except shouting for a bit.

A Nexu ended up biting Jynn's face off, while General Weiss tried to stomp on Gideon.

Next up was Diala's attempt at getting her lightsaber! The mission was called Temptation and it has some cool mechanics for handling the dark and light side of the force. Diala can use the force to either get extra attacks (but loose willpower/time) or heal her friends and allow the enemy to attack (but gain willpower/time). The heroes are fighting of force ghosts in the form of past enemies and it culminates with a ghostly version of Vader, very much like in The Empire Strikes Back. While not at full strenght Vader is still a formidable enemy with great defence and strong attacks. The heroes managed to bring him down to one health but at that time he force choked Diala and defeated her, ending the mission with another Imperial victory.

Even with ther Trooper allies the heroes couldn't prevail agains the Empire.

With two victories for each side we're all looking forward to the next session. Fly Solo is up as the coming Story mission and after that there will be two side missions back to back. Perhaps they can recruit Han Solo as an ally, or get a reward or two to help them out in coming missions.

End spoilers!

As I mentioned I've been a very (unusually!) disciplined while painting, usually putting in a couple of hours every evening at least. Right now there are only three minis left in the first wave to finish - Weiss, Chewbacca and the Royal Guard Champion. Then I have the new Heavy Stormtroopers and Tuskens from Twin Shadows to paint as well as a couple of Hired Guns that will fit right into the current campaign. I also have Boba Fett, R2 and 3PO and Leia, but as they won't be appearing in this campaign they're further down the line.

I wanted to weather it a fair bit, but still not too much. It's more or less clean above the chin.

I used some extra weathering powders for the back machine panel. Just felt right to have it gunky.

I just finished the regular AT-ST the other day and it was great fun to paint. One of the reasons I've been able to paint every day like this is because I've, roughly, been following the excellent painting videos made by Sorastro. While they don't really cover anything new for me, it's really nice to have everything figured out for you. For me most of the hard work of painting is composition and all the tiny decisions about what colour to use and how can be tiring. Now I could just follow his step by step, modifying as I went when I had a better/quicker approach, and it was all very nice and meditative. Also, Sorastro uses washes much more than I do, so I've actually learnt a bit there, as well as how to paint fur more effectively. Good stuff all around, highly recommended!

Anyway, here are the rest of the miniatures painted so far. Oh, and about the bases - right now they're all a beige grey and I haven't quite decided what to do with them. At first I wanted to try acrylic bases, but that might get tricky when you want to tell different units apart. I'm now leaning to regular scenic bases with sand and grass.

You can see that I don't really bother with mold lines or filling in gaps. This is a board game after all.

Vader was easy and fun to paint. And just adding those small dabs of red here and there really sell the light saber!

Fire Broadside: First off, could you briefly talk about the titles Sierra Madre Games have lined up for release this year?

Phil Eklund: The 2016 line-up is two new games, Bios Genesis and Pax Renaissance, and either one or two expansions. Bios Genesis covers the origins of life on Earth, beginning shortly after this planet's accretion. Pax Renaissance covers a different sort of origins, that of the western world.

FB: Before talking more about the Pax games, and their expansions, I just have to ask some more about Bios: Genesis. I've been following the progress of the game for years, and have always been happily surprised that it was still a semi-active project you were working on intermittently. You've mentioned that it is your most ambitious game to date, could you expand on that and maybe talk about the scope we should expect?

PE: In previous years the design of Bios Genesis foundered on the question of player identity. What should the players be when the Earth is still partially molten with lava oceans? And then, what sort of specialty or role can they play that is still recognizable after 4 billion years? These questions are tough, but they were anticipated. What was not anticipated or designed for is the seemingly simple refinement that players routinely paracitize each other, so as to be irritating but occasionally useful, as in endosymbiosis. Having an organism that is partly composed of another player's essential endosymbiont organism with different victory conditions blurred player identity. Also providing for both competitive and cooperative victory conditions was much harder than I thought, but my partner and games expert Jon Manker showed me how to do this. Yet another identity crisis was how to maintain player identity before the advent of templated replication, such as immortal or crudely reproducing life. Another bewildering question was how to maintain identity in the quantum leap from micro- to macroorganisms. The question of player identity stalled this project for years.

RNA (single strand) and DNA (double strand) mutations.

FB: That sounds intriguing! The parasite effect makes me think of 18XX games or titles like Panamax, where you have stocks in each others, competing, companies and winning or loosing is not as black and white as simply having your company doing well. Will it be something similar in Bios: Genesis where you might purposefully help your opponent simply because you have so much riding on his or her success?

PE: Yes. Imagine in your own body if your immune system had its own genome and thus its own victory conditions. Usually it would work to keep the body safe in its own interest, yet possibly it may allow the body to get (non-lethally) sick, or attack its own organs, to secure some evolutionary advantage.

FB: How closely related is Bios: Genesis to Greenland and Neanderthal from a mechanical standpoint? Fairly similar in execution but more refined or more of a different beast altogether?

PE: Bios Genesis is overall unique, but like Greenland and Neanderthal it has lots of dice, and the number of dice rolled (for Autocatalytic, Darwin, and Cancer rolls) depends on the number of units in the arena.

FB: With the release of Bios: Genesis we will be able to play through the entire history of life on (and off!) Earth through the different Sierra Madre Games titles, however, Bios: Megafauna and Origins: How We Became Human have been out of print for a long time. I know Bios: Megafauna is getting a completely new edition, designed and developed by Jon Manker and Andrew Doull. Could you tell us more about this and what are the chances of seeing something similar done for Origins?

PE: Bios Megafauna 2 will cover twice as much time as the original Bios Megafauna, and will allow for a combined game with Bios Genesis. This means that the players can no longer be distinguished by dentition, but must be from some other macro characteristic inherited from Bios Genesis. (Skeletal types is a possibility). It is envisioned (although not confirmed by the design team) that the players will take roles for all three trophic levels, given that they inherit traits such as weediness, metabolism, and separate growth and reproductive phases from Bios Genesis. In plain language this means players can be plants, fungi, and bugs, rather than just dinosaurs and mammals. And yes, if it sells well, the final part of the triad will be Bios Origins. All three together encompass the entire history of the Earth.

FB: That sounds terrific, very happy to hear we might see a new Origins as well! Is it correct that Bios Megafauna 2 (is that the official title) will be kickstarted and if so, do you have an inkling about when?

PE: I dislike kickstarting and will attempt to fund the Bios Megafauna 2 project on my own. Therefore it goes into intense playtest soon after Messe Essen in October 2016, for a release in Messe Essen 2017 if it survives playtest. But if my lack of USA distribution hurts me or leaves me with a large amount of unsold 2016 games, then I may have to rethink this. In particular, I have a lot riding on the success of Pax Renaissance. Pre-orders are strong, but to my astonishment Bios Genesis (for which I am printing only 2000 games) has garnered the most pre-orders. Who would have thought that biochemistry would sell?

FB: Alright, so let's talk Pax! There's a new game in the series coming out; Pax Renaissance, that has been in the making for a couple of years now. I remember hearing that it was a tricky game to design and that development had to be rebooted a couple of times. Is it more similar to Pax Porfiriana or Pax Pamir and are there any striking differences that would be immediately apparent for Pax veterans?

PE: Let's first talk about the philosophy of the Pax series, and its "realism". History is the study of man by his past actions. By studying history, one can figure out what "works" and what doesn't. Figuring out the natural laws regarding economics and politics is what makes History a science. I am hoping to have these laws as the constants holding the series together. If these game rules resonate with the actual universal laws, then the game is "realistic". I mention this because my partner Cole Wehrle, has been fielding questions about the nature of realism in our Pax game, Pax Pamir.Some of the processes that are the same in the Pax series are the Market, the hand structure, tableau with Prestige, and some sort of victory trigger.I am excited about this new Pax game, Pax Renaissance, because its theme is how society became "modern". At first just western society, but now this political liberation is global in extent; even in darkest Afghanistan one cannot entirely avoid it. Design attempts at this game in years past crashed and burned in playtest, simply because the scope (the entirety of Europe and its major religions) was so huge. Another failure was the integration of the three play areas: map, tableau, and market. Cole's game helped with this. Another problem was representing both "The East" and "The West", my son and co-designer Matt worked on this. The problem, stated simply, are these two societies fundamentally similar or different? We chose different, although both were within a century of a crossroads where they both could have gone different directions.The final big challenge was coming up with victory conditions that included the various directions that western society could have traveled. We finally decided on Globalization, Imperialism, Renaissance, and Holy victories. The result is a lot of wide-scale mayhem, in a manner familiar to Pax players, a typical turn might see a beheading in England, a reformation in France, an invasion of Italy, enslavement in the Crimea, a Jihad in Egypt, a peasant revolt in the Holy Roman Empire.

FB: So it seems to be more sprawling than the earlier two games, that are much more focused both in space and in time. Does this mean more cards (I noticed the box seem to be a little bit larger)? Also, it seems like Karim Chakroun won't be doing the art for this one, is that correct?

PE: The box size for Pax Renaissance is somewhat bigger, about 50% longer while keeping the other dimensions constant. This is to accommodate card sleeving and expected expansions. Nevertheless, I am hoping to keep the weight under 500 grams, even with the bigger box. This goal is uncertain; it will be tight. If I fail, I will have to increase shipping considerably for those who do not pre-order. The artwork is based on the Pax Pamir style and iconography which Cole Wehrle put a lot of effort into perfecting, so I put Karim to work on the Bios Genesis project instead. Hmmm. Something just occurred to me. In the "Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown, the hero is a "symbologist", which is an imaginary profession made up just for the novel. Yet I have employed both Karim and Cole in just such a capacity.

The secular trade map for Pax Renaissance.

FB: Yes, I think Karim's work on Bios Genesis is his best yet. Anyhow, what about the Pax Renaissance expansion that will hopefully be released at the same time. Is it mostly more but similar cards to the main game or does it contain new mechanics and rules?

PE: I am accepting pre-orders for both Pax Renaissance and its expansion now. But, as I explain on the order page, the expansion may be delayed and may ship later than Renaissance. The game is designed, but there are unresolved playtest issues. Some of the new polymath cards are really strong, and the new apostasy is not as relevant as I would have hoped. So I am not guaranteeing co-delivery, and Essen 2016 is uncertain (but likely).

FB: Pax Pamir is getting an expansion as well, and while I know it is not your game as such, could you tell us briefly about it and what it brings to the table?

PE: The Pax Pamir expansion, called Khyber Knives, brings a number of fresh new ideas to the game: new card types (Wazir, Capacity, Headline), a new Nation Building variant, and new procedures such as augmentation. Most significantly it introduces a solitaire variant designed by Richard Wilkins.

Some new cards in Khyber Knives.

FB: As a fairly new minted father, with less time for meeting friends for board gaming, I certainly appreciate the solo option! Moving on to High Frontier. The third edition is still in the hands of Jon Compton and One Small Step and while fairly late at this stage I'm hopeful it will be with us before winter at least. When we talked last year there was another space game mentioned, namely Robert Zubrin's Space. Has it been held up by the High Frontier kickstarter or is there some other reason we haven't heard much about it?

PE: The former. Bob Zubrin's game "Space" is held up by the KS release of High Frontier third edition. I hope the 3rd edition will be before winter as well, but I have no inside information, unfortunately. Then I will be working on "Space" again, which is supposed to be integrated with the 3rd edition. This is difficult because both Bob and I are stubborn curmudgeons, sometimes at loggerheads.

FB: Haha! I see. So you have a hard time agreeing on how certain aspects of space travel should be presented mechanically?

PE: A bit, although the bigger contention is the motivation for entering space to begin with. I contend that humans should not enter space until it is profitable to do so, whereas Bob sees the colonization of Mars as the end goal. And I see space as a means to reduce the nuclear threat from ICBMs, whereas Bob sees it as a means for parity in Europe. We are both influenced by our past experience, Bob as the President of the Mars Society and I as having working in Star Wars for many years.

FB: I asked about a possible reprint or new edition of Origins earlier, but that is of course not the only game of yours that is out of print - for example, I've been looking for a copy of Erosion for years without success. Do you think there are possibilities for reprints of other games in your back catalogue?

PE: A new edition of Origins will surely appear, at least if the Bios Megafauna 2 project is successful. It would then be something like Bios Origins, and a sequel to Bios Megafauna. I don't have any plans at the moment for an Erosion reprint.

PE: I hope for a new edition of Insecta. It should be possible to have a really simple variant for younger kids. Someday.

FB: A more general question; your recent games have all been card based which of course is easier and less expensive to produce and ship. Do you see yourself continuing this trend going forward or can we expect more games with mounted boards as well?

PE: Its unfortunate that I was let go by my long-time warehouser PSI, and thus I lost my access to USA distributors. I am hoping to survive by selling to the USA and Canada from my website and shipping most of the stuff from Europe, which is cheap as long as I stay under a kilo. The weight of mounted boards are therefore a problem for me. I have contracted with Funagain Games to warehouse my 2016 line in the USA, so I have some USA presence, but nevertheless persons who are used to getting my games at a discount on-line shop may be disappointed. If I can move enough games without an USA distribution base, or if I can get a new distribution base, I will go back to bigger games. I have told Andrew and Jon to include mounted maps (or mounted continental plates) for the design of Bios Megafauna 2 and Bios Origins.

FB: Mounted continental plates - like a puzzle? So you could build and crack your own Pangea?

PE: Yes. Andrew Doull is designing this concept.

FB: Well, if I wasn't way too excited for Bios Megafauna 2 already, I sure would be now! However, I think that is about it this time around. Is there anything else you would like to talk about concerning Sierra Madre Games or otherwise board game related?

PE: In closing I wanted to say that I have taken quite a bit of effort to make these new games as relevant and accessible as possible, despite their esoteric subject matter. The extensive card text, background, footnotes, and rules references make every effort to show how long-ago events are relevant today. As already mentioned, the universals of science never get outdated. How are the bankers of the Renaissance similar to those of today? Why are cancer, metabolism, vitamins, viruses the way they are? What are the politics that lead to artistic freedom of expression? What is the consequence that our mitochondria have their own own genome and thus their own genetic imperative and goals, are they really part of us or are they sometimes friends, sometimes enemies? What is the effect of combining a state religion and the government in a theocracy?

FB: Well, I can say that from a personal perspective that your games have helped me rediscover my love for science, history (both natural and man-made) and human behaviour. I have also observed that, while your games are not to everyones taste, they always make you think about the subject matter. After playing one of your games we have often had long discussions about how parts played out in the game vs the real world and why they ended up like they did etc, and that happens with people who like the game as much as people who don't. In a way I think of Phil Eklund as the Noam Chomsky (or Ayn Rand - take your pick) of board games - divisive but always interesting and thought provoking.

Your approach of often doing things from a bottom-up rather than a top-down perspective is also very refreshing. For example, is there any other civilization building game, besides Origins, where you play as the people rather than as some demi-god figure leading/controlling the people? None that I can recall anyway. And soon being able to play from the first sparks of life all the way to our times is mind-bogglingly cool!

So please, keep it up and thanks for the many happy hours of play (and discussions!).

PE: Thank you for this opportunity Martin. The renaissance of the boardgame genre is a chance to break out of wargame and party paradigms into a brave new world exploring ourselves and the universe we live in.

That is that, dear readers! I for one am most excited about Bios Genesis as I simply love the subject matter, and the minimalistic art design is absolutely gorgeous! For a deeper look at how a game might play out I recommend this solo play report by Cthulhukid att BGG.

Pax Renaissance is also very high on my to-get list. Especially since I skipped Pax Pamir as a friend of mine got it instead. The much grander and more open nature of PaxRe certainly sounds intriguing and it's more close to home than PaxPo or PaxPa.

I'll check in with Phil again next year for another interview. And of course I will be playing the new releases as soon as I get my hands on them.